Chapter 29
“Target is arriving in Kilvering.”
Prime steepled his fingers as he sat back in his chair, looking around at the assembled members of the Council. This was the moment they were waiting for, but after the failures of every other team they’d sent against their contracted target, he hesitated to give the order.
Never, in over 478 years, had he even thought about hesitating; and yet now, as much as the very fiber of his being rebelled against it, he held his tongue.
He couldn’t help but think that his mentor, gone these last few centuries, would be ashamed of his protégé.
“Shall we proceed?” one of the Council prompted. Prime looked at Air after she finished speaking, and he still couldn’t proceed with the go-ahead.
Not once, through the glorious and shadowed history of the Unspoken Response, had there been a contract such as this particular one, and he was reluctant to send even more of their number to their deaths. It wasn’t the first time that he regretted taking the contract from their contact with the SIC, and even now he couldn’t believe that he had done it anyway, despite his misgivings. Blasted honor; just because we’ve never refused a contract doesn’t mean we can’t make an exception.
That exception should’ve been made, once it was known that the target was potentially half-Gergasi, but the Council argued that every instance of a half-Gergasi that was known to them was sickly and weak, so this target should be easy enough to eliminate. He was only halfway convinced by their arguments; the other half came from the pressure to take any contract, as it had been years since they had been utilized to their fullest extent.
“We need to transport our teams now,” Earth stressed, “if we want to ensure that the target does not get away.”
Looking around the table, Water, Fire, Nature, and Shadow seemed to be in agreement, though Light appeared to not be paying attention. Not that he could blame her, as she was the one who was maintaining the sight of their target, as she instinctively connected to anywhere the light in the world shone. Having such a broad perspective tended to make her appear disconnected from the goings-on around her.
Prime was thankful that he didn’t have that particular gift. His own was more of a general expertise and perfection in any spell he cast, which boosted its effects to levels that very few could match. Only those among the Council could best him in their particular magical element, but since he wasn’t limited to a single one, he was therefore stronger than any two or three members combined. If they all teamed up against him, he’d be in serious trouble, but they hadn’t had a reason to do that.
At least, not until now. Showing weakness in the middle of a Council meeting was like dripping blood in the water; it was only a matter of time before the sharks came to investigate.
“Why are you hesitating? This time, there’s no possibility that the target will surv—” Fire spoke angrily, before Prime cut him off with a slash of his hand, causing the woman to snap her jaw shut. When Prime moved or spoke, there were very few who could maintain their stance against the very weight of his power.
Because at that point, it didn’t matter that each and every single member of the Council was a prodigy in their own right; none of them could contest him on their own. As it so happened, Fire was the youngest of them at only 105 years old, having come into her own less than a century ago, before she was “killed” during the defense of a city against a particularly deadly Scission. Rather than letting her waste her superior talent with the element of Fire in the mundane protection of the Kingdom’s citizens, the Unspoken Response had recruited her to be on the Council, as they had a slot to fill when the previous member was killed in an accident.
An accident of greed, as it turned out, as he had attempted to secretly subvert the control of a Barony a decade or so before, and the decision was made to have the older Council member permanently removed. Unfortunately, all the Fire Council members were hotheads and prone to making rash decisions, which Prime figured was an unfortunate side-effect of their element.
Fortunately, none of the other Council members, despite being connected to their elements in an intrinsic way, had such failings. For instance, Nature was a middle-aged-looking woman who was actually nearly 900 years old, and she had a relatively gentle demeanor about her. It was her that they had to thank for their longevity, as she had discovered how to extend the lifespan of anyone indefinitely, and she had been a part of the Council since she was recruited centuries before Prime was even born. Water was a century or so younger than Nature, and the others were more varied in age, with some slightly older than Prime and a few younger; but as stated before, Fire was the youngest. In fact, there were quite a few members of the Unspoken Response teams that were older than her, though in general there weren’t very many older than 220 years or so.
No matter how powerful those that they recruited from the ranks of the SIC were, their job inevitably had dangers that came with the territory. In addition, if they managed to survive for 200 years, they were allowed to retire in luxury in a foreign nation, as having such powerful individuals living amongst the people of the Kingdom was too tempting for them to cause trouble and bring attention to the Unspoken Response organization. None of them complained about having to relocate somewhere else, as the alternative was to keep working or to die.
Now I sometimes wish I could’ve joined them years ago. Unfortunately, with the rules that were passed down since its founding, being a member of the Council is a job for life.
“I’m not ignorant of the time constraint we’re working under here, but I’m also not confident that our teams will be enough to complete the contract,” Prime finally said after a few seconds. “Our target has proven to be particularly adept at eliminating our operatives, and I have no doubt that we would simply be wasting our time, as well as our dwindling forces, if we sent them into Kilvering.”
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“Oh? So what would you have us do? Renege on our contract?” Fire snapped out.
Prime shook his head. “Of course not. But we may need to consider a different approach in order to ensure success.”
“A different approach? It’s already different, because we’re sending sixty Responders to kill one man – something that we’ve never had to do before!” The temperature in the room began to rise as Fire stood up and pointed accusingly at him, as if this was somehow his fault.
Nature, ever the calming influence, spoke before Prime could take out his rising anger on the impetuous Council member. “While I agree that caution in this situation may be warranted, what exactly are you talking about, Prime?”
Nodding in thanks toward the veteran Council member, he said the only thing that he thought might actually work. It had never been needed in all the years that the Unspoken Response organization had been in existence, but it appeared to be needed now.
“I believe that the only way we can complete this contract is if the Council becomes directly involved.”
Silence greeted this proclamation, which he knew was well-warranted. Only once in their vaunted history had a single Council member been sent with a team of Responders to eliminate a target, and from what he remembered, it had only happened because the Council member was related to the contract target. There wasn’t necessarily a “good” relationship between the Council member and the target, so it was more of a need to ensure it went smoothly, so it was thought to be warranted at the time.
But never had the entire Council been needed.
“That’s ridiculous. We don’t get personally involved with contracts—” Fire began, but Air cut her off.
“That’s because there has never been a need for such an act, you ignorant girl. There’s no hard rule about it, however.” Air then looked at Prime before shaking her head. “That being said, I don’t think there is any need for our involvement. The contingency plan we’ve put in place in case our target traveled to Kilvering should be more than enough to eliminate him. Let our Responders do their job, Prime.”
The others seemed to think about this as well, before agreeing with Air, and of course Fire – who looked triumphant. Prime could overrule their decision, of course, but doing so would begin to fracture the solidarity of the Council, which was something he would strive to avoid, if at all possible. Besides, he knew the real reason they didn’t want to face the target of their contract.
They were worried that they’d lose.
After most of them had lived for multiple centuries, the thought of dying wasn’t something that any of them could comprehend seriously, but the potential that their lives could end if they faced their target had frightened them. If he was being honest with himself, it frightened him, as well, but he also knew that he would go through with it if it was necessary. He was devoted to the Unspoken Response, heart and soul, and if his death was needed to fulfill a contract, then so be it.
There was no greater sin to a Responder than backing out of a contract once it was accepted. While it might save his life to do so, he couldn’t live with himself afterward. To do so was to violate his very purpose in life.
It would be nothing more than a death sentence hanging over his head; it might not be immediate, but the guilt of betraying the basis behind the organization would eat him up inside to the point where it would be the same as dying. In other words, the only way out of this mess was to go through it, which meant to eliminate their target or to die trying. Anything else would be a failure of the highest capacity.
At the same time, he was willing to bow to the wishes of the Council at this time, if only to conserve the stability of the Council… and, he supposed, because a small part of him hoped that the Responders would succeed. If they failed, which he really didn’t want to contemplate but had to be realistic, that would mean that more than 80% of their forces had been slain by their target; there were just over two dozen held back in reserve, but they were going to be sending the best of the best of them with this strike. If they couldn’t do it, then it would be up to the Council to follow through with the contract. Once they succeeded, they could work, over the next few decades, to build their forces back up, though he thought it would take at least a century or so before they were back to the point they were before the contract was accepted.
“Fine then; I agree. Send the teams in, Earth.”
With those words, Earth closed his eyes and placed his hands against the stone table, which was embedded into the stone floor beneath it. While he could only sense a portion of what he was doing, Prime knew that the Earth prodigy had connected to the stone all around him, including the large preparation area nearby, where the Responders were waiting for their chance to complete their assignments. He vaguely felt as the stone beneath them seemed to melt into a mud-like substance, which sucked the 60 Responders down within seconds; none of them would panic at what was happening, however, as it was all part of the powerful spell that Earth was casting.
Once they had been sucked underground, the spell would shuttle them through the stone and dirt of the Kingdom toward their destination, moving them much faster than any other type of transportation, and they would arrive within minutes of leaving. The only way Prime knew they had made it to Kilvering was when Earth collapsed onto the table, his face ashen as he gulped in deep breaths, but thankfully Nature was by his side, already pumping him full of healing energy. The Stone-To-Stone Transport spell took a lot out of the man, especially at the distances they’d had to transport their Responders recently, and it didn’t help that he had just moved more people than he ever had before in memory.
Normally, he’s able to do that every week or so, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s unable to do that again for at least a month. Earth looked horrid, as if part of his life had been sucked away with the spell, but Nature was already helping to improve his health. The recovery would be slow, but he would recover eventually.
“The teams have arrived,” Light announced, though it wasn’t strictly necessary, as they could all guess that after seeing Earth collapse. “Target is entering the SIC headquarters. Responders are heading toward designated locations for when the contract departs. Ambush should be set up in two minutes, forty-two seconds.”
It seemed as though their delay hadn’t compromised the plan, fortunately, and now it was only a matter of time before they could see if it had all been enough.
Prime sat back as Light cast an illusion spell above the table, allowing them to see what she was seeing, though there wasn’t much to see. He watched as the Responder teams moved into position, but apparently Light was unable to obtain a view from inside the building, or at least anywhere the target was located. In addition, there was no sound transmitted through Light’s distance-viewing, and large surges of magical power tended to disrupt it; it was why they didn’t exactly know why their previous attempts at eliminating their target had failed so spectacularly, as most of the fights had been obscured until it was all over.
Therefore, the only thing left to do now was to wait for things to happen, which he always thought was the hardest part of his position, and he silently complained about it in his head every single time.
As proud and confident as he was in his own abilities, Prime just hoped he didn’t have to personally see to the contract being completed; he had a bad feeling that his prior complaints would be petty in comparison to the hellstorm he would face if he went up against this so-called Fusionist.